Goroka Market
NOT FOR PUBLICATION INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS EPW-8 P. O. Box 628, Goroka :rket Port Moresby, Papua, Territory of Papua & New Guinea OCtober 6, 967 Mr. Richard H. Nolte, Executive Director, Institute of Current World Affairs, 366 Madison Avenue, New York I007, New York, United States of America Dear Mr. Nolte, Goroka lies on the main Highlands Highway roughly midway between Mount Hagen and Lae. It is the end of the road for many of the hundreds of trucks that travel each week between the Highlands and the coast, for beyond Goroka the road is oftem closed because of landslips, and it is marginal whether it is cheaper to transport goods by road, or by air to and from Madang. Beyond Goroka one's chances of a backload to the coast grow dimmer as one progresses inland, for even in the Highlands, presently the area with the highest economic potential in the Territory, more goods are still transported in than are eported to other centres. As was until recently the case in Mount Hagen, and is still quite glaringly so in _anantu, Goroka is effectively cut in two by its airstrip. Aeroplanes were landing egularly in the Highlands up to 20 years before the first trucks came up the Eassam Pass in the early 950s. Throughout most of the week Goroka has a rather quiet air. Indeed, unless one is part of the various indi.enous, public service, academic, coercial or planting components of the local scene, it can be a very boring town. Coming from the coast, the Highlands Highway enters the commercial part of town, where the hotel, rotel and guesthouse, and the few main general stores are located.
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